Apple and tracking: a story of good guys and bad guys
Few stories in the business world are really about good guys and bad guys. There are always nuances, shades of gray, different interpretations that tilt the analysis one way or the other.
But no matter how hard I probe Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) initiative, launched on Monday on iPhones updated with iOS 14.5, all I see is crystal clear, without nuances of any kind: Apple is trying to give users choices so they can make decisions about their privacy and about the exploitation of their data. In response, several companies, led by Facebook and supported by some media outlets, are trying to prevent it.
Some of these companies have already taken legal action against Apple: in Germany, Facebook has joined a number of media associations, including Axel Springer (publisher of Bild, Die Welt and Insider), reporting the company to the competition authorities, claiming that the measure will damage the advertising market and see advertising revenue for app developers fall by as much as 60%, as the changes make it much more difficult to obtain the data they allegedly need. A similar case was brought in France late last year.
This is a misconception: developers do not “need” users’ personal data. For much of the history of advertising, in fact, they never have. The fact that for years we have allowed a…
